We'd wanted to go for years, but Sapporo is just so far away from any where on the main island (10 or so hours from Tokyo by train, and 12 hours from Osaka). Not to mention of course that those times would be using a shinkansen (bullet train) which cost an arm and a leg if you don't have a JR pass (you can`t get a JR pass while living in Japan).
But we figured, this is our year! This is our year to tick off all those bucketlist items! We're in Japan for a year! What better time to travel to Sapporo than when we have a whole year to play with!
The festival sculpures were beautiful and daunting in size. There were some lovely features, although I could have got more out of the weekend if we'd followed some of the advice I now know...
THE ACCOMMODATION
We booked an Airbnb a good 6 months in advance (I like to plan). At this time, the Airbnb was very reasonably priced and I think that perhaps the owner hadn't realised it was the Snow Festival weekend... a month before we were due to go to Sapporo, I recieved a message from the Airbnb host, asking me if I had made a mistake, as I only booked for one person, when there was 2 people coming...
She then requested that I pay double the entire booking. For those not in the know about Airbnb, this is not how it works. The owner herself had stated that for extra guests (more than 1) is simply a charge of $32 a night... not double the whole booking... She had even doubled the booking fee (unacceptable as it's only one booking and this is supposed to go to Airbnb not her) and also doubled the cleaning fee despite this being listed as a once-off fee. i told her of her mistake and said that I wanted to pay the amount listed on her website and she then said that once she has requestd this money she can't change it and the only way to change it would be for me to cancel and rebook with 2 people..
So I thought sure, that's what I'll do. That way I'll save myself a bunch of money doing it the legit way. but when I cancelled my booking, and tried to rebook she had then raised the price to OVER DOUBLE THE PRICE! Eveb more than what she wrongly tried to charge me before! So my two night trip was now going to cost $900! So then I saw what her intention was. Obviously she had realised that the weekend was the Snow Festival weekend and all the hotels around her were charging a premium and she wanted her share...
This was unacceptable to me so I started looking around at other hotels and Airbnbs. But now, being only a month before the Snow Festival, most of the hotels were fully booked, and those that weren't were charging suuper high rates. I'm talking $300 a night for a mattress on the floor in a single room with a shared house... Most places were around $500 a night, with some being over $1000 a night!
Eventually, we found a not too expensive airbnb that did not give us physical pain to book... It still cost us about $200 a night when our original booking was only going to cost us just over $200 in total...
So please be aware of these scams if you're going to the Snow Festival! I'd reccommend booking with a real hotel for this event, rather than Airbnb, as Airbnb hosts can cancel your booking at their own discretion, leaving you high and dry just before the event like us and having to pay exorbitant fees for shitty accommodations.
Make sure your accommodation is near Odori park, as getting around can be exhausting. In the snow, even a 10 minute walk to the train station can be gruelling.
GETTING AROUND
You can easily catch the train or tram from anywhere near Sapporo to Odori or Susukino, and you can then follow the colomn of sculptures and festivities that line Odori park.
I highly, HIGHLY reccommend wearing either snow boots or little snow grips that you can attach to your shoes. I did not have them, and I deeply regret it. I couldn't get as much out of the weekend as I would have liked as a result of this. The grounds of Odori Park are largely free of snow with the exception of the parts where you walk across roads, but getting to and from train stations, and to and from hotels is VERY slippery. Plus, if you want to see any of the other snow festivals like the one at Tsudome or closey by towns, you'll need to be able to walk on snow and ice.
Walking on the snow and ice will get very exhausting and will work entirely different parts of your feet, knees and legs. You'll find your toes and feet trying to grip the ice as your legs constantly sply outwards, slipping on the ice. You'll shuffle, hunched, trying to minimise your movement as you walk. This puts a lot of strain on your back and knees. By the end of the weekend my knees were killing me and both my husband and I had blisters so make sure your footwear, whether snowboots or otherwise are comfy and well worn in.
THE FOOD!
I'm a big fan of festival food, and there was plenty at Sapporo's Snow Festival. Be sure to bring some cash, to try fesival foods like pork rib steamed buns, fresh seafood, long potato fries, buttered corn, doughnuts, fried chicken burgers, and a huge array of portable fried food. Even the convenience stores are selling special snow editions of foods, some featuring "Snow Miku", Hatsune Miku's snow alter ego.
Sapporo is famous for its Yubara melon, which is similar to Aussie Rock melon, or American Canteloupe, so be sure to try their melon pocky, mochi and icecream!
Sapporo/ Hokkaido is also famous for it's milk products so Hokkaido ice cream, milk, and butter are all famous around Japan.
DRINKING
We went to Susukino to drink, as we had heard that it was the center of Sapporo's nightlife. There's an abundance of restaurants and bars, and a lovely ice sculpture display as well. It's quite different to the night life in Osaka and Tokyo though, in my opinion. Perhaps it's just the fact that it's so cold out, but there were no sprukers outside with pamphlets trying to persuade us to come into restaurants or offering us "all you can drink options". This is something love about Tokyo and Osaka night life, so I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see any, as this is usually the way Jason and I decide where to eat/drink. Especially because a lot of Japanese restaurants can be a little bit daunting with small spaces and closed doors. You feel like you're intruding a little if you just want to come in and see what they've got. Plus, a lot of restaurants are upstairs or downstairs out of sight, so without these sprukers we were a little bit lost.
We eventually ended up at a bar called the "Electric Sheep" which I had seen advertised on a website. They offered a delightful range of enticing, fancy cocktails for a nomihoudai (all you can drink) deal of 2600 yen (around $30) for 2 hours.This is quite expensive by Japanese nomihoudai standards, but still cheap by Aussie standards, so we decided to splurge. It also included one food item from the menu in this price.
We made sure to get our money's worth, with each of us ordering at least 8 drinks, but we were slowed down by the sub-par single waiter. Perhaps he was not used to Australians finishing their drinks so quickly.
Some of their cocktails were amazing though. Standouts included the glowing, colour changing cocktail the Blade Runner, and the Peach Pudding Martini (a thick, pudding like cocktail that was to die for!).
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